


On Your Feet

by DinobotGlitch



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 02:02:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11613627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DinobotGlitch/pseuds/DinobotGlitch
Summary: After the Unicron incident, Starscream finds himself in one unenviable position after another. But maybe someday, he'll find a place to call home again.





	On Your Feet

**Author's Note:**

  * For [avaestrom420](https://archiveofourown.org/users/avaestrom420/gifts).



> For the ever so lovely freelancerwizard on tumblr <3 
> 
> Thanks for such a sweet and wonderful prompt. I hope I did it justice!

The war was a lost cause. What a wild thought… Millions of years at war, and for what? The Autobots were still in control of nearly everything! Nothing had changed!

Starscream wanted to tear out his optics, rip off his wings, and rust away, but he didn’t even have the energy for that.

At long last, he was well and truly broken.

He had no idea how long he had had been floating freely in space before he onlined to the realization that he was not, in fact, dead. He didn’t know why he hadn’t frozen over, either. Or perhaps he had, but pre-existing immobility made it impossible to tell. There were no errors though; no dangerously low temperature warnings sounded. There was… nothing.

There was so much nothing for so long that by the time there _was_ something, Starscream didn’t even realize it until the ‘thing’ in question transformed above him and flew close, pale blue optics like little fires resolving themselves in his fading vision as big - huge - hands closed over his cheeks. They studied him intently for what felt like a small eternity.

Then, for the first time in an age, his comm. suite crackled to life with the gentle tenor of an achingly familiar voice.

Barely more than a whisper, full of shock and something suspiciously like despair, Skyfire asked, ::Starscream?::

* * *

That had been at least a month ago, by Starscream’s not necessarily accurate count. Some days were so hazy that they could have been mere dreams, and his chronometer was either broken beyond repair or simply missing, so he couldn’t tell for sure, but that was okay. It wasn’t that he missed it, necessarily; it would just be nice to know how long he had been out of commission, simply for the sake of knowing.

Whatever else there was to say for his physical condition, however, he could at least say that his frame was in much better shape than the day he had been discovered. His mobility - and thus his autonomy - had been quickly restored when they had made their first landing after Skyfire found him, though Skyfire himself had professed to not understanding how it was possible that Starscream was still alive in his condition in the first place. He had made a point of saying that several times while he worked on him, in fact. Skyfire must have picked up some skills while working with the Autobots, too, because he had never before known how to properly rewire wings despite owning an impressive pair of his own, so that was a nice little unexpected bonus in a string of other nice, unexpected bonuses.

All in all, Starscream wasn’t sleek and pretty, but he could walk if he wanted, fuel himself, bathe… about the only thing he couldn’t do yet was fly, if only because he didn’t want to strain his repairs to answer that particular need just yet. It was… strange, almost as strange and unexpected as the mech that had become his savior.

Nowhere near as strange as his desire to remain with Skyfire even when he fully recovered, though.

Speaking of Skyfire…

Not bothering to sit up from the single portable berth that Skyfire’s alt mode boasted, Starscream asked, “Are you ever going to tell me where we’re going?”

There was a slight delay before Skyfire’s internal speakers clicked on.

_“I already told you. We’re leaving that mess of a war behind.”_

It clicked off again, and Starscream wondered if it was worth pursuing further conversation by asking more questions. Skyfire had been surprisingly tight-lipped about their destination, how he had found Starscream in the first place, and honestly pretty much everything Starscream had asked him about so far. But why keep him around if he didn’t even want to talk to him?

“How much longer? It’s pretty cramped in here, you know.”

_“You never complained before.”_

… Yeah, well. That obviously wasn’t the point here. Couldn’t Skyfire see that?

“Maybe all that time drifting in space ruined me for confined spaces for good,” Starscream snarked, though the effort was halfhearted at best.

Skyfire saw right through it, and being wrapped completely in the mech’s EM field, it was impossible not to feel the shuttle former’s consternation at the inappropriate joke. They both knew that being stranded in space - dead on the water, so to speak - was just as bad as being cooped up. You were still trapped, helpless, at the mercy of the elements and those around you.

Finally, after what felt like forever of laying on that stupid portable berth and feeling bad for making Skyfire upset even though he _shouldn’t_ , slaggit all, Skyfire finally deigned to speak to him again, and this time, it was with something slightly more comforting than his usual hedging replies. 

_“We’ll be landing soon. I’ll warn you before we begin our descent so that you can strap yourself in.”_

That was something of a relief, not that Starscream was going to say as much!

“Keep your secret, then,” he grumbled in reply, knowing he was still being chastised even if Skyfire hadn’t said as much. “I’ll just lay here like a piece of cargo, then, I guess.”

Skyfire’s systems rumbled a soft, soothing note that Starscream hated because it worked on him even when he didn’t want it to.

_“Don’t start with that, now. You’ll like where we’re going, I promise. Don’t you trust me?”_

Starscream didn’t answer.

* * *

It was days still before Skyfire finally told him to strap in for atmospheric entry, and they had hardly talked at all in that time. Starscream did so without arguing, though he complained loudly to no one about the fact that, despite numerous opportunities to do so, the shuttle former still had not seen fit to upgrade to bindings that didn’t scratch a mech’s finish. He didn’t know if it made him feel worse or better that Skyfire said nothing to refute his claim that the harness was bordering on abusive, where the mech would have once teased him for being so sensitive.

Once he was finished, he felt the belts tighten almost imperceptibly, however. It was Skyfire’s way of holding him protectively, probably a gesture that the mech hadn’t even thought about before doing, just before the first jolt of resistance rocked the white mech’s alt mode slightly.

Starscream had never liked that part of space travel; reentry was so messy and full of so much turbulence, not at all like a graceful sky-dancer’s movements… He wondered if Skyfire remembered that, or if it was just so instinctive now that it didn’t require a thought.

Landing was only a little better (insomuch as touching down on land ever could be), but it took an almost unbearably long time for Skyfire to tell him he could unbuckle and exit. Only as he was releasing the safety protocols for the door and stepping out did he realize that there might be another reason: Skyfire could have done those on his own, but he let Starscream and… and they were still the same. It was almost like…

Pushing that little databyte of information back into the trash where it belonged, Starscream assessed the new location.

It was dark out, but the moon overhead was bright and full and beautiful, illuminating the landscape enough for him to see a world not entirely unlike their own - how it used to be. Craggy metallic mountains loomed in the distance, spread out far and wide like a backdrop for the vast, faintly glowing, green tinged lake that they had landed near. The ground beneath his pedes was made of solid, free forming living metal. He didn’t know (yet) if it was the thrum of Skyfire’s engines or the planet itself that he felt, but his spark was at ease as he moved away from the white shuttle and closer to the lake.

Skyfire transformed behind him, his sigh of relief audible as he shook out his various components and stretched disused limbs. It was painfully nostalgic, and Starscream bit his derma to keep it from trembling. He was over it, especially after Skyfire had made his choice… wasn’t he?

“Nice, isn’t it?” Skyfire asked, his voice ever-comforting in its gentleness. It was a gentleness that Starscream felt didn’t have a place in their new reality, but he didn’t feel the urge to lash out at it anymore. He was too tired for that.

“Mm,” he answered noncommittally instead.

“It’s a Q-4, like Cybertron used to be. No natural energon deposits though, which is why it was never claimed in the war, I assume…”

Starscream, despite his better judgement, looked back at Skyfire to ask, “No energon?” He stoutly ignored the instinctive urge to admire the larger mech as the moonlight made him look almost ethereal - it was much to reminiscent of days long past - by turning to look out toward the lake once more.

“No. It can be synthesized with solar energy, but there are no veins or streams of it here. Plenty of coolant and the like though.”

“Sounds livable enough, if one had an energon dispenser capable of- oh.” 

Skyfire’s alt mode was equipped with a removable dispenser for exactly things like this. This was a planet capable of sustaining Cybertronian life - they had discovered it themselves, hadn’t they? Named it… what was it… Chronos? That sounded right, but why… would they go so far away…?

A lot of things made a horrible amount of sense very quickly, and Starscream whipped around to regard Skyfire suspiciously.

“What’s the meaning of this?” he demanded to know.

“The meaning of what, Starscream?” Skyfire asked, and was that a hint of a purr in his voice? It couldn’t possibly be, but Starscream couldn’t shake the feeling as he planted his hands on his hips and glared up at the shuttle former’s stupid, smiling face. He wasn’t going to let it distract him!

“Are you going to abandon me here? Is this some Autobot ploy to be rid of me forever?”

Skyfire stared at him for a second, though whether he was confused or shocked was hard to say.

Then he burst out laughing.

Immediately, Starscream’s proverbial hackles rose.

“Don’t laugh at me! Don’t you dare laugh at me, Skyfire!” he fairly screeched, overcome by the thought that the lack of denial was proof of agreement.

“Star’- ohh, I-I’m not! Is that- hah, is that what you think?” Skyfire asked, nearly bent double as he tried to contain himself. Starscream hated himself for how much he had missed that smile even while he stormed over and reached out to poke the other mech in the chest aggressively.

“How could it be anything else? You said you were taking me away from the war-”

“Us,” Skyfire corrected quickly, cutting Starscream off as he straightened back up. “I took us away from the war. Together. I’m not abandoning you again, Star’.”

That shut Starscream up real quick. Any other words he may have had died in his throat as it dried up, seemingly devoid of oral lubricant to grease the mechanisms around his vocalizer to allow sound to come out as he realized what the mech clearly meant to happen.

“I know I should have told you sooner…” Skyfire continued, daring to step a little closer with his hands out to the sides in an open, vulnerable gesture of faith that Starscream didn’t feel he deserved. “But I know how cranky you can be sometimes, and having you bang around in my hold didn’t seem ideal.”

“You… I…”

“I’ve already got a structure built. It’s not great, not like the old one we had when we were studying here, but since we had to demolish that one when we left, there’s not much to be done there.”

There, Skyfire shrugged helplessly before moving around Starscream to head toward a stand of trees - big, towering things that were almost organic in design but clearly made out of long branches of metal and crystal - and activate a small generator that Starscream had missed before.

A structure, barely more than a hut, it was so small, lit up a little ways into the stand. It was disgustingly domestic looking even from a distance, with cute little windows and even trim on the roof. 

Starscream hated it immediately.

“You can’t possibly be serious.”

“About what?” Skyfire asked.

“About… This.” Starscream gestured around them. “The scenic view, privacy, the fragging starter _cottage_ you’ve got going. You expect me to stay _here_? With _you_?”

Somehow, despite his scathing tone and overall body language that screamed affront, Skyfire looked anything but perturbed as he nodded.

“Yes?” he hulking white mech replied, posing it as a question. It asked, ‘Why _wouldn’t_ you want to stay here?’

The sad part was, Starscream found himself wondering the exact same thing.

Here, there was no one who would snarl at him or fling him through walls or call him incompetent and then steal his plans… Here, there was a house that they could expand upon, fuel enough for them to be content, space enough to branch out and build something worth living in. It would be just for them, but what was so wrong with that, really?

“Look,” Skyfire said when Starscream remained silent for several minutes, drawing the Seeker out of his thoughts. “Let’s just have some energon, rest a little, and see how we feel in the morning. The recharge pad I built is plenty big enough for both of us, so you won’t have to sleep on a bench or anything again.”

Sharing a berth? They hadn’t even done that when they were… No! Primus, why couldn’t he keep those thoughts away anymore? Starscream scowled darkly, but couldn’t stop himself from following after Skyfire at the promise of energon. Fresh, solar energy energon, at that. Light on the palate, pure, a little zesty…

He tried to convince himself that was the only thing that got him to enter that Primus-forsaken cottage that night, but somehow, even then, he knew it wasn’t true.

* * *

Starscream ended up staying. He didn’t like it (at least, he didn’t act like he liked it), but where else would he go? That was the argument he had made to Skyfire after taking the full night and a good chunk of daylight to simply recharge by him. Skyfire had only nodded sympathetically and asked if he wanted to see the solar field he had set up along the bank of the lake a ways down.

Starscream had said yes immediately.

Skyfire showed him a lot of things that he had already made, including: the solar field, an alloy harvesting machine, a rudimentary fabricator for parts and construction grade building blocks, and a storage shed. His exuberance over such simple components to living in comfort was weirdly endearing, so Starscream let himself be led about for much of the daylight to see one thing after another wordlessly.

“Most of the components came from salvaging on Cybertron’s debris, but some of it had to be made here. Fabricators, you know, they’re so finicky… There’s no way I could have transported one on my own,” Skyfire had explained with an exasperated sigh, like the fabricator was a particularly troublesome youngster intent on giving him a processor ache. Starscream didn’t have to say anything for the shuttle former to know he was both amused and impressed. By that time, he had a million questions on his mind, but left most of them alone until they had settled in for the night.

“So you ran away?” Starscream asked later while they sat huddled together in the half of the hut that wasn’t taken up by the recharge pad, two half empty cubes of energon between them.

For the first time since their rejoining, Skyfire looked a little uncomfortable as he made to answer.

“Not… exactly. I was never an Autobot, for all that I wore their brand. Leaving was simply a matter of time. Returning to the ravaged Cybertron after everything that happened only cemented my desire to do so, and when your emergency beacon popped up, and I found you so damaged…”

The mention of an emergency beacon, their personalized tracking devices so they could find one another if injured critically while on an expedition, answered the question of how he had been found, and Starscream was almost surprised to realize he had never gotten rid of the coding for it. The discovery made him uncomfortable enough that his next reply was grumbled, but scathing.

“Better damaged than dead, like I was.”

That seemed to derail Skyfire’s thoughts somewhat. “You were _what_?”

“Dead. You know, permanently offline? I was… you didn’t know?”

“No. I wasn’t privy to information like that,” Skyfire said softly, his tone somewhere between betrayed and sorrowful. “How…?”

“Not important now,” Starscream hastily said, standing up. He shouldn’t have even mentioned it, it would only make Skyfire pity him more! “Forget I said anything. I’m gonna go outside for a little. It’s too hot in here.”

They both knew that wasn’t true, but Skyfire let him go anyway.

Starscream went a little way from the hut, not quite to the beach but close to it, seeking solitude as he tried to sort out his feelings. He didn’t want to think about these things, feel these things, again. How long had he spent telling himself that? Never again, never again…

He spent the rest of the night outside wallowing in self-pity and self-loathing, ignoring the fact that when he finally slipped into recharge with his back against the shack’s front wall, he missed Skyfire’s warmth next to him.

* * *

From there, days blended into weeks, then into months, without the subject being brought up again. Most of their interactions from that point forward were spent awkwardly engaging one another in superficial conversation (that admittedly became less awkward as time went on), or arguing over how best to expand their living unit. Skyfire insisted that they would only benefit from more room as the weather chilled and they had to be inside more often, but Starscream insisted it was more economical to only have to heat a small space when the inevitable winter came. The sun of this world was stronger than Hadeen, but they were far enough from it that the planet would ice over at some point regardless.

Neither of them talked about building a second recharge pad or a dividing wall.

It had become an unspoken agreement, as the nights became colder and longer, to spend as much time as they could outside during the daylight though, so that was what they were doing currently. Ostensibly, they were insulating the solar panels for winter, though not much work had gotten done since noon, and it was nearly dark now. Why, one might wonder, but Starscream wasn’t inclined to answer that question. He was having too much fun heckling Skyfire.

“I can’t believe you actually listened to those two idiots about anything,” he laughed after Skyfire finished regaling him with the tale of his first interaction with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe after joining the Autobots.

“How was I supposed to know, pray tell?” Skyfire demanded, flushing just slightly. “They were quite persuasive…”

“Mm, I bet they were,” Starscream agreed with a leer that made Skyfire falter and nearly drop his tools when he went to put them away.

“Don’t say it like that!” the shuttle former insisted.

The very picture of innocence, Starscream asked, “Like what?”

“Like- like _that_ ,” Skyfire gestured weakly, not wanting to say the words out loud. If there was one thing Skyfire still continued to be, it was easily flustered the second anyone got the slightest bit suggestive. Starscream would probably never tire of it, quite honestly.

“Mmm… how about no?” he asked, grinning as he pranced away. “Your behavior makes me think you’ve thought about it~!”

“Starscreeeaaam…” Skyfire whined, picking up the toolbox as he followed after the Seeker.

Starscream cackled all the way back to the storage shed, which he kindly unlocked and opened so that Skyfire could put away his burdens. The mech did so, but only after directing a pitiful look at him.

Deciding to cut him a break (just so he would stop that infernal pouting and get on with things, not any other reason), Starscream huffed and said, “Come on, you sparkling. Let’s get some energon. Looks like the sky’s going to be clear tonight, so we should sit outside.”

Perking up instantly, Skyfire agreed, and so off they went. The stars here were big, bright, and plentiful, but a rare treat since the area Skyfire had chosen was so prone to rain and gloomy clouds or fog toward the night. Sitting outside for a meal was a huge privilege that neither mech was willing to pass up!

Side by side, they refueled and then relaxed, wings barely brushing with the minute shifts of their chassises. It was… nice. Comforting. Familiar.

“Hey, Starscream?”

“Hmm?”

“D’you remember the last time we were under stars like this?”

Starscream tilted his head inquiringly, peeking around his shoulder vent to give Skyfire a confused look.

“About a week ago?” he asked, unsure if they were talking about the same instance.

Skyfire shook his head, inadvertently proving Starscream’s musings correct.

“No, like… this.”

Gently, a hand slid over his, and Starscream nearly jumped at the contact. What was Skyfire suggesting?!

Skyfire wasn’t even looking at him, but he continued speaking.

“Do you remember? We were in the lab - you know, that really shoddy basement one with just the one window looking out into nothing but open plains? We were taking a break to let some fumes clear out, and the stars were so bright. I told you you were just like them, and you asked if I was always so sappy. I told you yes, then asked if you would dance with me so I could infect you with a bit of it.”

Oh… _oh_. Starscream thought he knew what Skyfire was talking about, and for once, it was his turn to flush in embarrassment. The memory was old and worn, faded from disuse, but he could never forget the feel of warm arms holding him aloft as his partner spun them slowly about the room in time to some music only he could hear.

“I… Yeah, I remember,” he answered quietly, turning his hand over to hold Skyfire’s while resolutely staring off into the distance. “It’s the worst pickup line anyone has ever used on me.”

“But it worked,” Skyfire pointed out, and Starscream could concede that much with a wordless hum.

They were quiet for a moment, but then Skyfire stood up, pulling Starscream up with him. There was a determination in his stare that Starscream couldn’t look away from as Skyfire began speaking once more.

“I’m not asking you to forget everything that’s happened, to you or because of you, or because I wasn’t there. I’m also not asking you to spill your spark to me like we’re still fresh off the assembly line and don’t know how the world works yet. But if you’ll let me… I’d like to dance with you again, and show you that I’m still worth whatever you saw in me back then. So would you like to dance?”

It was a painfully long minute for Starscream as he struggled to comprehend those words, spoken in that order, directed at him. When he finally thought he had it though, his thrusters activated (with only the slightest of groans from being underused) to propel him up to Skyfire’s height so that he could give him a stern look and push his chest in frustration, then hug him tight. Big arms curled around his back and thighs even as he mumbled his reply.

“Stupid. I’m pretty sure that’s my line now, but yes.”

It wasn’t a cure. They still had a lot to hash out because Starscream had changed so much over the years, but if Skyfire thought there was something redeemable in him… well, he was willing to indulge the mech a little longer by sticking around. It was only fair, right? Besides, what if Skyfire got lonely?

While the shuttle former kissed his cheek and then spun them under the moon and stars, Starscream could almost convince himself that that was the reason he stayed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you liked it, please leave me a comment so that I know what to write more of in the future, and if you want more info on me and my works, feel free to hit me up on my tumblr (dinobotglitch) any time! Asks and PMs are always encouraged lol <3


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